Phil Celia was one of the good ones. Playing back the songs of his which I've posted here (and to WFMU) is one way of compiling a song-poem greatest hits collection. Just a review of those song titles brings a smile to my face: "Moaning and Groaning Twist", "A Fat Man in a Compact Car", "If Butch the Rough Barber Man Shaves Castro", "I'm Sorry I Put On Charlie's Shoes" (admittedly, most of these are in the dead zone of my site, where I still need to go back in and replace the files).
"Couldn't Be True is not, perhaps, at that level, but it's still a fun, night-clubby style record with a lounge-lizard lead vocal, and a fine addition to the Phil Celia collection.
Download: Phil Celia - Couldn't Be True
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Then, on the other hand, there is "She Kissed Me in a Dream", which is certainly the most ponderous, deadly track I remember hearing from dear ol' Phil. Rarely, apart from Halmark and Noval releases, has three minutes seemed to stretch out so long. (In fact, this sort of sounds like a Noval track to me.) And I'm a big fan of over-the-top echo when it's in the service of something raucous or ridiculous, but in this setting, he just sounds like he's singing in a sewer pipe, and the slow setting plays up some of his vocal limitations.
Download: Phil Celia - She Kissed Me in a Dream
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3 comments:
Thanks for posting these! I enjoy Phil more than I enjoy the songs, but then that's often the way it is with song-poems, right?
Very cool. Nice.
really beautiful!
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